:CD HOUSE DECORATION SERIES _,. ... ' A. OC-AN ia (She |£i of life tt of The Sstate of the late Professor C.T. Currelly Bouse Decoration Series CHIMNEYPIECES AND INGLE NOOKS THE HOUSE DECORATION SERIES Ceilings and their Decorations Chimneypieces and Ingle-nooks Staircases and Garden Steps House Antiquities and Curios Porches Windows CHIMNEYPIECES AND INGLE NOOKS THEIR DESIGN AND ORNAMENTATION BY GUY CADOGAN ROTHERY AUTHOR OF "CEILINGS AND THEIR DECORATIONS" LONDON > T. WERNER LAURIE CLIFFORD'S INN "Ceilings and Their Decoration" is valuable not only because it deals with a subject of considerable interest, but also because, in treating of the various styles ... it helps us to realise the inherent defects of certain modern methods which we are apt to idly acquiesce in. ... (a) Should appeal to all householders . . . He supplies a terse but admirable and in every way adequate description of the history of his subject . . . (If) ... Related in a fluent and agreeable manner sufficiently technical to be of practical use to the student . . . and yet not too detailed to bore the general reader . . . (c) Mr Rothery is a master of his subject . . . the book makes its first appeal to the artist and architect . . . treated from an original point of view . . . with criticism which is essentially stimulating, (d) The name of Mr Rothery will be familiar to many of our readers and . . . they will be aware how thoroughly he gathers his facts and how ably he presents them, (e) May be very warmly recommended to students of arch ecture and to all who are interested in the house beautiful. (/) (a) Morning Post. ( introduced into the home circle, these great dishes, filled with embers or flaming wood, resting on their lower rim or standing on tall feet, and forming the centre of groups intent on gossip or culinary efforts. Brasiers are, of course, essentially a device of a chimneyless people, invented to mitigate the inconvenience of smoke in more or less close confined apartments, and to overcome the impossibility of having open hearths in 6 CHIMNEYPIECES luxuriously equipped rooms. They were used mainly for bringing glowing embers from great wood fires kindled outside, in the courtyards or kitchens, and subsequently were replenished with prepared charcoal, the ligna cocta or coctilia of the Latins. This was a means of warming that commended itself to a people dwelling in countries blessed with ardent summers, genial springs and hot autumns, where the winters were short-lived inconveniences. The use of brasiers per- sisted long in many lands. They were common in Greece up to the i8th century, were retained even longer in Italy, practi- cally over the whole of Spain and much of France. In most of these countries the open brasier prevailed. We read of Antonio Magliabecchi, the famous librarian of the ^ Grand Duke of Tuscany, that he used to move about among his books with a kind of warming pan attached to his arms, so that he might warm his hands during the cold days of a Florentine winter. Paintings by the great Spanish masters give us a good idea of the large, ornate brass dishes, on low legs, full of live coals, so commonly used even in the richly upholstered and carpeted palaces. France, where the Emperor Julian EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 7 was nearly poisoned as the result of burning coals being brought into his Parisian winter quarters, was up to comparatively recently the land of the chauffrette, or closed- in brasier, the foot warmer. From the same rich sources of painted pottery and walls we also gather some fairly comprehensible details concerning the hypo- causta, or hot air basement stove, used both in public baths and in private houses, wherefrom one or two rooms, even a whole house, could be warmed. Authors are also definite enough upon this method. The hypocausta was a stove placed in the base- ment of a building, and was connected with one or several chambers above by means of channels in the thickness of the walls, and intended to convey hot air, from which smoke itself could not always be excluded. According to Seneca, these channels opened into chambers by way of a lion's or a dolphin's head, whose gaping mouth could be closed by means of a trap. In this way hot air was admitted or excluded as desired. It is to be observed that these channels do not appear to have been carried upon a level with or above the roof in order to emit smoke after the gases had stored their heat 8 CHIMNEYPIECES in the brick conduit. The idea was rather to conserve heat to the fullest extent, so that, when the chamber outlets were closed, the tubes began and ended in the stove. Of course smoke must have escaped into the apartments, and may be one of the reasons for Vitruvius's cautions. No doubt by care- ful choice of fuel, wood soaked in water and then dried, dressed with oil lees, or the use of coctilia, or again by keeping a brisk fire with closed traps until the brickwork was hot and the fuel reduced to embers, the smoke nuisance may have been considerably mitigated. Horace seems to draw a dis- tinction between the warming of houses of the well-to-do and the makeshift expedients adopted in wayside inns, which brought water to his eyes. The hypocausta was clearly a matter of luxury and not of common use. In addition to the pictorial records of the ancients, and the less satisfactory cursory remarks of their authors, the study of archi- tectural vestiges affords occasional useful information. Winkelmann, in describing his discoveries at Herculaneum, says : — " Of chimneys in apartments no traces are to be seen. Charcoal was found in some of EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 9 the rooms in the city of Herculaneum, from which we may conclude that the inhabitants used only charcoal fires for warming them- selves. ... In the villas, however, which were situated without Rome, on eminences where the air was purer and colder [than in the city], "the ancients had hypocausta, which were perhaps more common than in the city. Stoves were found in the apartments of a ruined villa when the ground was dug up. . . . Below these apartments there were subterranean chambers, about the height of a table, two and two under each apartment, and close on all sides. The flat top of these chambers consisted of very large tiles, and was supported by two pillars, which, as well as the tiles, were joined together, not with lime but some kind of cement, that they might not be separated by the heat. In the roofs of these chambers there were square pipes made of clay, which hung half-way down into each, and the mouths of them were conveyed into the apartment above. Pipes of the like kind built into the walls of the lower apartment rose into another in the second storey, where their mouths were orna- mented with the figure of a lion's head in burned clay. A narrow passage, of about io CHIMNEYPIECES two feet in breadth, conducted to the sub- terranean chambers, into which coals were thrown through a square hole, and the heat was conveyed from them by means of the before-mentioned pipes into the apartment immediately above, the floor of which was composed of coarse mosaic work, and the walls were encrusted with marble. This was the sweating apartment. The heat of this apartment was conveyed into that on the second storey by the clay pipes enclosed in the wall, which had mouths opening into the former, as well as the latter, to collect and afford a passage to the heat, which was moderated to the upper apartment, and could be increased or lessened at pleasure." However, as we have said, the hypocausta in private buildings was the exception, not the rule. Apart from the brasiers, the most general way of warming apartments with the ancients was by means of a fire of wood or charcoal built up on a hearth, a flat stone or a concave depression, placed in the centre of rooms, the smoke from which was conveyed away through an opening in the roof, or simply by way of the doors and windows. Sometimes such hearths were placed close to walls. When the Roman villa was dis- Florentine Stone, about 1450. EARLY DEVELOPMENTS n covered at Bognor in Sussex, a hearth of this kind was found. It was formed of a stone slab and some bricks, firmly clamped together by means of iron ties in such a way as to provide a well-like enclosure. In fact, this luxurious dwelling was provided with just such a device as is adopted by campers and humble picnickers anxious to boil a kettle or broil a bird. In this instance there were no signs of any chimney connection, and there were no traces of any superstruc- ture. A limited qualification is here necessary. We have mentioned above that Pompeii must be excepted from our general remarks. It is a fact that in one or two instances an elementary type of fireplace and chimney has been found in that buried city, and if Palladio is correct, in two other instances elsewhere. In the buried cities the fireplaces are seen in the shape of a cavity, formed of an elliptical truncated cone of brick, and surmounted by pipes, or smoke channels in earthenware. These are extremely rare, and probably formed part of the kitchen equipment, for they have a somewhat close resemblance to the present local fornello, or small solid structures of brick or stone masonry, with 12 CHIMNEYPIECES a tiny depression for burning charcoal. The point is that even this quite rudimentary type is only met with in a very few instances at Pompeii, and a still more rudimentary stage suggested in still rarer cases, as at Bognor. Now, this brings us into contact with the primitive methods of semi -nomadic tribes and hut dwellers. Mr E. Way Elkington in his book, "The Savage South Seas," writing about the wooden huts of the coastal villages in New Guinea, which huts are built on piles over the sea and roofed with palm leaves, says that specially hard timber is chosen for the flooring. " One log tougher than the rest is placed in position by the door, and on this a fire will probably be burning and a woman squatting by it, cook- ing her lord and master's evening meal. The rank, yellow smoke which curls round her does not inconvenience her in the least. She takes no heed of it, but blows away at the embers. She never fears that the fire will spread and burn down her home." But while the smoke-grimed interior of tents and huts are commonplaces to travellers among savage and barbaric people, in certain regions local exigencies brought about a EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 13 refinement. Where fuel was scarce some method of conservation of heat must have early been hit upon. This is peculiarly true of treeless and bushless lands, where the droppings of herds and cattle form the principal source of fuel. Experience must have soon taught that the building up of a protecting wall at back and sides was necessary, both for economy and comfort. The next step would be to partly cover in the structure with stones, turf, or mud, leaving an opening in front to feed the fire, and another at the top for the escape of smoke or the reception of a cooking vessel. In this we have undoubtedly the prototype of the mound-like enclosed stoves of Central Asia and the northern regions of our Continent. Enclosure would, of course, bring about the necessity for a smoke channel, a chimney, either central and more or less vertical, or lateral, underground, and horizontal. The development of the stove as a means of house-warming must be dealt with at length at a later stage. A desire to provide safeguards against conflagration rather than the idea of con- servation of heat was the guiding principle responsible for the evolution of the semi- 14 CHIMNEYPIECES enclosed fireplace and the chimney. Field practice taught the advantages of building up a fire within the confines of a back wall and two side wings, rather than on a mere slab, so the central position of the hearth was changed for that of a space against a chamber wall, often with disastrous results. This experience would lead to a lining of the wall at the back, especially when much wood, or merely reeds and mud were used in construction. We have examples of this even so late as in the rebuilding of Bolsover Castle by the Cavendishes in the i7th century. The 'training up of the side wing enclosures would follow the provision of a back plate, and then the benefits to be derived from a side opening in the outer wall, and some means of directing the smoke towards it, would sooner or later become evident, and thus the fireplace and chimney came into existence. We can see all this in the early examples of Romanesque buildings. A development which seems so self- evident, a method which appears quite natural to the merest tyro in log-hut build- ing was, however, long delayed. It assuredly did not reach us from Egypt, a land where EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 15 the principle of the hot-air stove, not only for baking, but for incubating eggs, was well understood. Nor did it come from Greece or Rome. It probably suggested itself to builders in wood ; but even so, it was a very late invention. With us, as we have seen, the Roman invaders used the brasier and the open, chimneyless hearth, so that it is evident they cannot have found any superior device of native contrivance. Indeed, what we know of Celtic England shows us a country of single chamber dwellings, later having cell- like excrescences, with the central hearth stove beneath a hypaethral opening. Among the Saxons the brasier was also used, probably descending from Latium through the intermediary of the Romanised Britons. But the prevailing style with them was not modelled on the Roman villa or military castle. With them, as with the Celts, the single chamber, be it a small room or a large hall, was the rule, and therein a fire was built up on a central hearthstone, placed beneath the roof opening. That this method was general down to a late period is evidenced by the institution of the curfew, the Norman couvre-feu, a 16 CHIMNEYPIECES measure instigated, no doubt, largely by political motives, yet based on the un- questionable policy of public safety. That a law should be enacted obliging everybody to cover over the house fire at the approach of night, whether that fire was built in a pit or piled up on a flat or raised hearth- stone, would be understandable enough, because it provided against the danger of conflagration resulting from unattended open fires, while conserving the heat that would still be given out from the embers. In- cidentally, of course, the institution of the curfew made the detection of secret as- semblies an easy matter, but the law had to be based on a more obvious requirement of the commonweal to make it possible. It is significant, as we shall see in the next chapter, that the curfew should have been abolished by Henry I. in noo, when the chimney, with all that it implied, was be- ginning to make its appearance. Which, at all events, demonstrates how political benefits may result from progress in the arts of peace. Certainly the change of an open hearth into the fireplace was an immense step towards comfort and a great artistic gain, as the following pages will show. Italian, 15th Century. CHAPTER II. ROMANESQUE AND EARLY GOTHIC EXAMPLES. IN the Romanesque we have a sterner ren- dering of that phase of Roman architecture adopted for military and semi-military edi- fices. Many of the earlier examples of the Romanesque give us tower-like structures, with a single chamber to each floor. Some- times such keeps form a corner of a more imposing building, with main hall and other clustered apartments. In these halls usually the flat hearthstone, chimneyless, and placed in the centre, prevailed. Several instances of this arrangement have come down to us. At Penshurst Place, Kent, the Banqueting Hall has a central fireplace, a mere platform of stones with an octagonal kerb. The Bayeux tapestry, though dealing with a military adventure, gives us views of several interiors, yet while we frequently V i8 CHIMNEYPIECES see preparations for feasting, as well as conclaves held, there are no indications of fireplaces or of chimneys. Other pictorial records afforded by illuminated MSS. are equally negative as to evidence on these points. On the other hand, we find authors as early as 1069 referring to caminatcz, a term which has been interpreted by many as denoting rooms provided with chimneys, probably on the ground that Papias the grammarian, writing in 1051, defined fum- arium as caminus per quern exit fumus. But it may be that this fumarium, this highway for the escape of smoke, was something of the nature of a hood or funnel, arranged somewhat after the manner of the hypocausta pipes described by Winkelmann, only having an opposite function — that is, the conveying away of smoke from open hearths, of which we have still many examples. Then we would regard caminata as chambers having hearths, but provided with hypaethral or other openings, with some structure training the smoke towards the opening : an improve- ment on mere dependence upon windows and doorways. It was a considerable step for- ward, which was to be developed successfully, for we find regularly-designed fireplaces with ROMANESQUE & EARLY GOTHIC 19 rudimentary chimneys making their appear- ance with the later Romanesque builders. Conisborough, Rochester, Newcastle - on - Tyne, Tonbridge, and Somerton Castles, Clifford's Tower and Durham Abbey kitchen in England, and Cashel and Kilmallock in Ireland, bear witness to this. LOWER CHIMNEYPIECE, CONISBOROUGH CASTLE. Of these, Conisborough possesses peculiar interest, both to the archaeologist and the architect, in this particular connection, be- cause two of the keep's chambers contain fireplaces which are characterised by very 20 CHIMNEYPIECES instructive transition features. That is to say, the hearths are here of a primitive type, but are provided with astonishingly well developed frames and hoods, as well as with quite effective chimneys. This keep, which was built for William de Warren under license from William Rufus, and therefore dates back to the last decade of the nth, or the early years of the i2th century, is a tower rising from a spreading base, has im- mensely thick walls, and only one chamber on each floor. On the first floor is the principal chamber, and here is seen a large fireplace, the hearth against the wall, but not recessed, coming, indeed, well into the room. In order to secure draught and the escape of smoke, the wall behind the hearth- stone slopes backwards from base upwards, where it is connected with a shaft. The jambs are in the form of wing walls of moderate projection just covering the hearth, and are ornamented in front with a cluster of three non - engaged columns. These columns stand on a single base, have plain shafts, with individual and slightly foliated capitals. Another interesting detail is that the chimney lintel or architrave, which is straight, is formed of large dressed stones, Italian, Early 16th Century. ROMANESQUE & EARLY GOTHIC 21 the centre one being wedge-shaped, with cut-in sides on the lower half. The stones on both sides are hipped on their face towards the keystone and cut-in on their outward side, thus the whole row is joggled. A method of keying such as this is often resorted to, with modifications in the details of jogglings. At Cashel, where we have a fine example of Norman work, the same style is adopted, while in a much later example at Edlingham Castle, Northants, circa 1330, in the Decorated style, the long narrow stones are given a curious wavy form, something like the nebule* line in heraldry. Joggling was a system of gaining strength possessing distinct artistic merits. But to return to Conisborough. The architrave of our speci- men supports a moderately proportioned flat-topped hood. In the upper chamber the fireplace is constructed on the same principle, also having a sloping back, wing walls, and three clustered columns, only it is rather smaller, with flat, hoodless top. In both examples, while the hearth is in the room, the smoke is trained away from the interior towards the throat, where it joins a shaft carried upwards to the ramparts. It is conjectured that some form of top or stack c 22 CHIMNEYPIECES may have existed originally. It will be seen that in these we find utilitarian details turned conscientiously to decorative account. It is with us the advent of the chimney- piece. Rochester Castle, which was built by Bishop Gundulph about the same time as Conisborough, is a more pretentious edifice, but possesses rather more primitive fire- places. They are placed against the walls, are slightly recessed in circular form, have semi-circular arched openings, with two columns at side, a tall breast, and small, flat- topped hood, the whole being nearly flush with the walls. The hearths, sides, and backs form a sort of conical cavity, reaching outwards to a loophole opening, placed uniformly with the regular loopholes. A zigzag or chevron ornamentation is cut as a border to the arched opening. At Colchester Castle the fireplaces, con- trived against the walls, are recessed, have a lower stone-course, with brickwork above. The bricks are rather narrow, and are laid slanting, first to right, then to left, but not in regular herring-bone style, inasmuch as we find three courses to the left, then two to the right, and so on. The backs are shallow, ROMANESQUE & EARLY GOTHIC 23 but slope upwards, while the openings are arched. At Newcastle-on-Tyne, built in 1172-77, the arched opening is segmental, and is adorned with the Norman billet. CORNER FIREPLACE, CASHEL. At Penshurst one of the ancient stone fireplaces has a raised hearth, slender jambs, flat breast, with crenelated base, and pointed hood. Britton gives a picture of a Norman fireplace from Win wall House, Norfolk, of 24 CHIMNEYPIECES uncertain date. It is placed against the wall, has a raised, slightly recessed hearth, wing walls of moderate projection, slightly decorated lintel, and conical hood carried to the ceiling. The back has the angles filled in, thus presenting a five-sided chamber. In Ireland we have found examples of Norman work at Kilmallock and at Cashel. The latter is curious, because it is built in an angle, one wall forming the back, which is given an upward slope from the base, while the other wall is utilised as the enclosing wing. There is a broad, joggled lintel, and a truncated, pointed hood. A very quaint feature is the curved masonry arm, like a horizontal flying buttress, carried from the side lintel to the wall. In France regularly constructed fireplaces seem to have come in with the i2th century. They were placed against the walls, were provided with jambs to enclose the hearths, were crowned by architraves supporting well developed hoods connected with smoke outlets. In Flanders the change appears to have developed much earlier. At the Chateau des Comtes, Ghent, there are three very instructive examples hidden away in the ROMANESQUE & EARLY GOTHIC 25 basement, They are little more than arched recesses in the walls, though in one case the back is circular, and the arch is made to spring from the floor base with slight pro- jection, so that we find rudimentary jambs. Other similar fireplaces are seen in several houses in the town. Then, in a fine old merchant's house in the rue Basse, possess- ing a very primitive recessed arrangement in the basement, we come upon something far more advanced on the first floor, the fire- place being provided with jambs and pillars, the summits spreading out into corbels adorned (if that is the fitting word for the hideous mask) with a human face. These belong to the loth and nth centuries. At Bruges, in the gatehouses of the Porte de Gands and the Porte Ste Croix, we find quaint, recessed fireplaces, with circular backs, mouldings round the openings, but no jambs, the lintels triangular, with long bases. In the first example the top of the lintel is outlined for nearly its whole length with a course of upright bricks. In the second there is a semi-circular course of bricks some few inches above the lintel. These additions can have no other than a decorative object. 26 CHIMNEYPIECES With us other rudimentary fireplaces have been recorded at Clifford's Tower, York ; at Tonbridge Castle, built by Richard de Clare, temp. William II.; in the keep of the late Norman period at Middleham Castle, Yorks (provided with smoke shafts) ; at the Jews House, Lincoln, circa 1150, where the fireplace is built on an arch over the en- trance door, and is provided with a semi- external smoke flue rising to the eaves ; at the Pottergate Arch, Lincoln, temp. Edward I. ; at Somerton Castle, Lincoln- shire, built by Antony Bek (subsequently Bishop of Durham), who had licence from Edward I. in 1281 to crenelate his castle; and at Boothby Pagnall, also in Lincoln- shire. This last has a fireplace against the wall, the hearth being enclosed by a raised masonry kerb with rounded ends ; it has no jambs or wing walls, but a hood juts out from the wall above the hearth, and is con- nected with a smoke channel. This form of construction at Boothby Pagnall is, of course, a transition device, a variation of the roof funnel hood, placed over the central hearths in large halls and in kitchens. In the Monasticum Gallicum a Roman- ROMANESQUE & EARLY GOTHIC 2; esque kitchen roof is pictured. It appears as a conical mound, having three rows of conical chimneys, one row above the other, each chimney shaped somewhat like a miniature kiln or bottle ; at the top is a rather larger chimney, belching forth smoke. No details are given, but elaborate as it is this does not necessarily entail a regular fire- place or even a smoke funnel. What was usually done was to build the roof over the hearth in the form of a cupola, this being louvred, or provided with chimneys. To facilitate the removal of smoke and create draught the hood was sometimes added. The pierced hood cupola was certainly adopted at the great kitchen of the Roman- esque monastery of Fontevrault, which has a tall pyramidal octagon dome with chimney at top and a few openings lower down. At a much later period the Great Hall at West- minster School was provided with a central brasier, placed under a mere louvred pro- jection in the timbered roof. The roof hood, however, was frequently in the form of an inverted funnel, suggesting the hood of the chimneypiece as seen in the examples above described. We may take this as the general rule, 28 CHIMNEYPIECES though the examples referred to show that the chimney and smoke flues were early utilised. Nevertheless, regular chimney flues, consisting of square or cylindrical masonry shafts carried above the roof ridge, and provided with a more or less ornamental opening, did not come into anything like wide use with us until the reign of Henry III., when architectural art had made great strides, especially in the development of details tending towards a combination of comfort with decoration. This was the period of the Early English or Lancet style of Gothic, with its develop- ment of deep recesses, lancet form of arches and openings, adoption of small slender pillars, often several slender ones being grouped round a larger one, and moderate use of foliage as decorative motifs. At Aydon Castle, Northants, we have two chimneys, which, though belonging to the year 1270 or thereabouts, have little of the Gothic feeling. One, however, with a square opening and no lintel, has a rounded hood supported by a group of slender pillars on each side. The second has also a square opening, crowned by a broad lintel and square hood. Italian Early 16th Century. ROMANESQUE & EARLY GOTHIC 29 At Abingdon Abbey, Berkshire, a Wes- sex foundation of the 7th century, rebuilt in the 1 3th century, there is a fine chimney- piece in the Prior's room. It is against the wall, has a deep, circular recess with brick back, jambs formed of stone pillars with foliated capitals, supporting a tall, stone hood. The throat, covered by the hood, is in direct communication with a flue, carried up and ending in a chimney closed by pretty gables, each pierced for the escape of smoke. This is a practical adapta- tion of the older louvre, itself an improve- ment on the mere hypaethral opening, much in vogue both here and on the Continent. Stokesay, Shropshire, provides us with another example, very similar to that at Abingdon, but with less elaborate chimney. CHAPTER III. THE MIDDLE GOTHIC. WITH the general advance in domestic architecture there came about a correspond- ing development of the fireplace. It had suffered somewhat as a social centre when the hospitable but inconvenient open hearth was removed to a side wall, and there more or less cut off by wings and dimmed by a low hanging hood. There was a certain exclusiveness in this arrangement, but as, indeed, the change had been introduced with a view to the exclusion of smoke, the advan- tages of an effective framing for the hearth were recognised. As the separate parts that go to make up the complete chimney- piece — the jambs or wing-walls, the archi- trave or lintel, the smoke collector or hood, were studied, it was seen that they possessed decorative possibilities. The removal of the 30 THE MIDDLE GOTHIC 31 fireplace from the centre of the hall to the middle of one of the walls, or even to an angle of a room, as at Cashel, did not necessarily entail dwarfing. Builders were designing boldly, and chimneypieces as one of the chief interior features began to be built on a big scale. Everything tended towards this end, for spaciousness was aimed at in the Hall or other principal room. But then considerations of comfort and ex- pediency brought about a fashion of dividing up a Hall, almost of placing a room within a room. There was the raised platform, with some kind of dais for the great folk ; the carved screens — often of considerable mag- nitude and closed in at the top — to cut off direct communication with outer lobby and domestic offices ; fair oriels, with or without raised floors, and partly enclosed recess closets, forming useful withdrawing rooms ; also minstrel and service galleries. All this led to the chimneypiece being developed along lines which made it at once a conspicuous detail, yet a further sub- division of a great assembly centre. To some extent the practice of deep recessing, of building the fireplace within the wall's thickness, was abandoned or modified. 32 CHIMNEYPIECES A long and deep hearth jutted well out into the room, first on a level with the floor, then raised. This was enclosed by wing walls, forming the jambs, pillars when they existed being merely used for purposes of adorn- ment. These wings were often brought out at right angles from the wall, then turned at right angles again, so as to form niches within the fireplace. From wing to wing an arch was thrown, or a lintel formed, fre- quently carefully keyed by some such picturesque form of joggling as already mentioned. This supported the great hood above or formed part of the breast, a hood which was frequently carried up close to the wall cornice. This was intended at once as a smoke collector and a draught inducer, training air and smoke towards the throat of the chimneypiece, which was the immediate opening to the smoke shaft. So great were the proportions given that a man could stand upright on a hearthstone, or sit in com- fort protected by the jamb and its inward- curving wing. This was the general character of chimney- piece design and is found influencing the construction even in quite moderate sized dwellings. Of the magnitude they could THE MIDDLE GOTHIC 33 assume we may judge by examples still existing, and by that horrible story told by Froissart. He was staying at Foy in the winter of 1388, when Ernauton the Bastard of Spain, another guest, strolled into the crowded courtyard, and picking up a donkey with its panniers filled with logs, carried them into the Hall, and scattering the assembled men - at - arms and knights, threw wood, baskets, and struggling donkey, its legs kicking in the air, on to the andirons amidst the flaming mass, "to the great joy of the Comte de Foix and all who were there," the chronicler concludes. Let us hope that such cruelty was not of frequent occurrence, although tales of babes cast into the great fiery caverns are told with suspicious re- currence with us, in France and in Germany. Eckhart tells us, too, that in religious houses the scourge hung on the chimney hood, and culprits were tied to the jambs to be flogged, no doubt owing to the conspicuous position of the chimneypiece and this being the usual headquarters of Abbot or Prior. Usually, however, the chimney corner was the place where the elders sat, entertaining guests, instructing the young, gossiping with neighbours, and confabulating over private 34 CHIMNEYPIECES matters. In fact, the chimney corner was a refuge from the hurly-burly of the common meeting room, of it, yet set apart, a kind of privy closet associated with all that is most sacred connected with home, the Lares and Penates of Northern people. And so there grew into the French language that delight- fully domestic phrase, Sous le manteau de la cheminte, to describe some friendly counsel quietly given, some semi-secret circulating in undertones among the family or inner circle. Thus the fireplace became even more the spot where the host was found than the hospitable board itself. A rallying point like this, looming large, with conspicuous features, attracting the eyes of all who entered the room, naturally became the subject for care- ful thought, liberal handling and even lavish decoration. ' Carved stone was the usual material for chimneypieces up to well in the i6th century. Such material as was locally at hand was commonly chosen. Thus we have hard building material in Derbyshire and North- umberland, white and greyish yellow chalk in Kent and Sussex, hard but easily handled sandstone and the more brittle, greyish Flemish Coloured Marbles, 16th Century. THE MIDDLE GOTHIC 35 black slate in Italy, the soft stones in Nor- mandy and Brittany. Bricks, however, were constantly utilised for backs and cheeks, possibly owing to their being cheaper, but also on account of their more or less re- fractory character as compared with many stones, and their capacity for storing and reflecting heat. Brick was also occasionally used for the decorative parts of the super- structure. Brick and stone were practically the only combination resorted to by builders at this period. The carving often showed great technical skill. Incised lines, slight rounding, deep cutting, and complete relief were all used. But as a rule broad effects were aimed at, the carving alternating with large plain surfaces. These surfaces, however, were frequently painted in vivid colours, with the same bold lavishness as bright tints in daring contrast were applied to the stone walls, carved pillars and roofs of mediaeval ecclesiastical and domestic building. For reasons that are sufficiently evident, chimney- pieces were more often cleaned than walls or ceilings, and consequently only tracings of such colouring have come down to us, though the indications are sufficient to show 36 CHIMNEYPIECES how these monumental adjuncts to the Hall and the private apartments shone and glowed when the fires were lighted. So great were the Halls at this period and in the following century that frequently one fireplace was not considered enough. We find some Halls provided with two, placed apart against the same wall ; occasion- ally placed on opposite walls. The more usual course, however, was to increase the width of the hearth, and divide them into two or more fires. At Linlithgow Palace there is a very wide fireplace with four sets of pillars, thus dividing it into three hearths. At the Palais des Comtes, Poitiers, in the West of France, division is even more thorough, for the huge fireplace has not only four sets of columns, but these are backed by partitions, at right angles to the back, but communicating at the breast with the same smoke outlet. At Mont St. Michel there is another great chimneypiece covering three hearths. In the Salle des Preuses, Chateau de Coucy, Picardy, the hearth is doubled by a single dividing wall. This is a huge structure, with a wide but somewhat low opening, with columns and massive wing walls, the whole being of considerable pro- THE MIDDLE GOTHIC 37 jection. The overmantel is a square structure, adorned with nine figures of heroic proportions, carved in high relief, but otherwise the decoration is subdued, indeed somewhat rough in character. In the Durham old Convent Kitchen, built in 1368, there is more than one fireplace, as was natural, placed against the wall as in other examples of even much later date, where we find hearths placed opposite each other in circular and octagon chambers. But these usually communicated with the same smoke shaft, though at Durham, where the hearths are deeply recessed, and have a wide arch formed of carved stone, each fire- place has a separate shaft carried up to the parapet. At St. Cross Hospital near Win- chester, built by Cardinal Beaufort about 1450, the large fireplace has also an external stone shaft on the front wall. A very interesting example of mixed stone and brickwork of this period, coming from Prittlewell in Essex, is to be seen at the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Ken- sington. The whole structure is about four- teen feet high. The lower part is of carved stone, and from the breast upwards of red brick. It is quite irregular in design, no D 38 CHIMNEYPIECES attempt at balancing being made, which may have been due to its position in a peculiarly shaped room. On the left the wing wall is a straight slab ; on the right the lower part is cut away, leaving a slight projection at the top, like a console. The ornamental carving is quite simple. Over the slightly arched open- ing there are two narrow pendentive panels, filled with low relief foliated design, little more than indicated. Under the hood, on the left, there is a stone seat. The brick- work entablature is square built, with curi- ously battlemented top, but lower on the left than on the right. The flat surface is adorned with a great sunken panel, marked out by heavy raised round mouldings, within which is an arch, sheltering a triple arch, the middle section being given special promi- nence, and below this is an arcade loft, with three equal-sized arched tops, the soffits ornamented with multifoil tracery. The two upper pendentives are filled with trefoils in tracery, having two huge lobes and a small one. There are no pillars, but under the arches are indications of long stalks with trilobed flowers. This square panel is placed slightly to the right, and flanking it on the left is a narrow sunken THE MIDDLE GOTHIC 39 trilobed arched panel. This whole form of decoration is most peculiar, and raises inter- esting problems as to the original condition of such a unique monument of our domestic architecture. In the same collection there is a Florentine example belonging to the second half of the 1 5th century. It is a massive sandstone structure with well carved figures, showing considerable superiority in design and work- manship over the Prittlewell specimen, and, indeed, over much of the more pretentious French and Flemish work of the same period. Far more Gothic in feeling is the large conically hooded fireplace on the ground floor in the Cascina Mirabello on the out- skirts of Milan. It is of plastered stone, strikingly coloured. The opening is wide and tall, there is a good lintel, and the breast is covered by a great pointed hood, excellent in outline, decorated with boldly drawn coat-of-arms, specially interesting on account of the overbalancing disproportion of the crest, which marked heraldic work of this period generally ; a fashion which con- tinued in Teutonic countries even much later. Another curious point is that these 40 CHIMNEYPIECES are the arms of the Visconti, though of dif- ferent tinctures, affording an instance of an overlord granting his bearings, with suf- ficiently distinctive modifications, as a mark of favour. The fashion of adorning the chimney architrave or the hood with armorial in- signia was coming in at this period, though heraldic embellishments were not then used so lavishly as they were at a later date. This was probably due to the fact that the armorial fighting and jousting shields were still in general use, and were hung up on the walls. A happy introduction of heraldic symbols on a more modest scale than this Italian example is to be seen on a monu- mental chimneypiece at Tattershall Castle, Lincolnshire, which Ralph, Lord Cromwell, rebuilt about 1650. He placed his official badge as Treasurer of the King's Exchequer, a purse with gold tassels, in the middle of the handsomely carved architrave. Coming back to more ambitious efforts we may refer to several Continental examples. In the Salle des Gardes, in the Palace of the Duke of Burgundy at Dijon, belonging to the end of the isth century, there is a very large fireplace with a raised hearth- Gothic Work. Milan. THE MIDDLE GOTHIC 41 stone. The jambs are adorned with clustered diamond-shaped columns with plain shafts. There is a great projecting hood, providing quite a roomy chamber for the hearth. Above the pillars are two niches of Gothic tracery and pointed floreated fleches, affording asylum for two knights in armour. The central panel of the chimney breast is filled with excellent open tracery, partly geometric and partly foliated work, surround- ing fleur de Us badges. It is a very fine example of this style. The Flemings were also building large chimneypieces at this time, the Gothic being of the decorated type, with a certain Bur- gundian broadness in outline. In the Salle des Pas Perdus, at the Hotel de Ville, Mons, there is a carved blue stone chimney- piece on a colossal scale. The jambs are severely plain, half the front space being occupied by octagonal pilasters with inter- laced capitals. The frieze or lintel is broad, composed of large stones, richly joggled, the stones having elaborate outwardly curved and sharp incurved outlines for the purpose of keying and decoration. The chimney- breast is massive, divided into three panels by four columns topped by foliated finials, 42 CHIMNEYPIECES the panels being covered with geometric tracery. At the Mont de Piete, Malines, there is another noteworthy example. It is of very considerable size, but has slender jambs with flat mouldings, and an engaged pillar with flat moulding. As in much of the Flemish work of this type, in place of a capital, the pillar and top part of the jamb is curved outward, to form an apparent support for the lintel, which is brought forward, is straight, broad, and adorned with elaborate mouldings, consisting of hollows, rounds and flat bands. Above this is a recessed frieze, with two notched shields placed in the centre leaning against each other. This is topped by a cornice. Over this is a fine overmantel of carved wood panels, with a central niche, the whole being crowned by an outwardly spreading fan canopy with delicate mouldings and foliated rosettes. Another chimneypiece with the same form of base is to be seen at Oudenarde, but the shafts of the pillars are octagonal. The shelf has a slightly projecting edge, finished off as a three-tier cornice, strongly carved. Above the flat broad frieze there is a well cut wreath of leaves, above which is a projecting cornice forming a shelf supporting small THE MIDDLE GOTHIC 43 pedestals in the centre and at each corner, with elaborately carved foliated pendants hanging from them. There is a trun- cated conical hood above, the centre part brought forward, the wings recessed. In the centre is a niche with a carved figure. In the Chateau de Meillant, near Bourges, there is a very peculiar structure, reminding one of the great built-up stoves of Germany. It occupies nearly the whole of one end of the room, projects far in, being built with a broad front and two slanting wings, and the whole carried up to the ceiling. The fire opening is long and comparatively low, framed by pillars and a straight lintel, the hearth is raised. Above the lintel is a deep frieze, the superstructure, quite straight, is divided up into tiers of panels by a fillet and pillars, the lower panels being filled with figures sculptured in high relief. This quaint structure is carved with great skill and is painted. We may bring our recital of examples to an end with a description of one to be seen in the National Museum at Florence, where it was removed from the Hall in the Palace of the Due de Atene. It has a raised hearth, very slightly projecting jambs, with 44 CHIMNEYPIECES acanthus capitals. The lintel, in the form of a carved frieze, supports a pointed hood. On each side of the hearth is a stone bench, slightly carved. It will be seen that the characteristics of this period are the monumental character of the structures, the distinct hood, very generally conical in form, the breadth and depth of hearth, with the large opening, often providing accommodation for persons under the hood. CHAPTER IV. LATER GOTHIC AND EARLY RENAISSANCE. STONE of one kind or another was the material chosen for chimneypieces anterior to the 1 6th century, and continued to be in vogue until the middle of that century, when wood came into favour, gradually usurping the primary place in England, northern and middle Europe. In Italy, however, wood was rarely used, except in conjunction with rubble and good plaster in some of the later examples of the hooded Gothic. At this period hard woods, gener- erally oak, though sometimes walnut, were preferred. Decoration was carried to a high pitch, carving, painting, and occasional incrustations being called in to add beauty to the examples. Although chimneypieces continued to be monumental in size and character, they did not project so much into 45 46 CHIMNEYPIECES the rooms as in earlier times, for the hearths, as a rule, were deeply recessed, the framing therefore, while retaining their towering aspect, came more on a level with the wall, often having little projection beyond that of the carvings, mouldings, and panelling on other parts of the walls. The hood was gradually replaced by a square form of structure covering the breast, often rising to the ceiling, and sometimes being carried to the upper floor, which acted as a foundation or support to the hearth in the room above. This last provision, indeed, is found in a good many of the larger examples even during trje preceding period. While so much pains were bestowed on embellishing the frame with carving and colour, greater attention began to be paid to the embellishment both of the lining of the fireplace and to its furniture. Hearths were sometimes level with the floor, and then not uncommonly surrounded by a stone kerb, plain or moulded, as at Penshurst ; or they were raised, forming a platform at a slightly higher level than the rest of the room. The hearthstone itself was some- times decorated, either with carvings in low relief, with incised tracery, or as in the early OT